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Caregivers’ perception of risk for malaria, helminth infection and malaria-helminth co-infection among children living in urban and rural settings of Senegal: A qualitative study

The parasites causing malaria, soil-transmitted helminthiasis and schistosomiasis frequently co-exist in children living in low-and middle-income countries, where existing vertical control programmes for the control of these diseases are not operating at optimal levels. This gap necessitates the dev...

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Autores principales: Afolabi, Muhammed O., Sougou, Ndèye Mareme, Diaw, Aminata, Sow, Doudou, Manga, Isaac A., Mbaye, Ibrahima, Greenwood, Brian, Ndiaye, Jean Louis A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10021862/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36962392
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000525
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author Afolabi, Muhammed O.
Sougou, Ndèye Mareme
Diaw, Aminata
Sow, Doudou
Manga, Isaac A.
Mbaye, Ibrahima
Greenwood, Brian
Ndiaye, Jean Louis A.
author_facet Afolabi, Muhammed O.
Sougou, Ndèye Mareme
Diaw, Aminata
Sow, Doudou
Manga, Isaac A.
Mbaye, Ibrahima
Greenwood, Brian
Ndiaye, Jean Louis A.
author_sort Afolabi, Muhammed O.
collection PubMed
description The parasites causing malaria, soil-transmitted helminthiasis and schistosomiasis frequently co-exist in children living in low-and middle-income countries, where existing vertical control programmes for the control of these diseases are not operating at optimal levels. This gap necessitates the development and implementation of strategic interventions to achieve effective control and eventual elimination of these co-infections. Central to the successful implementation of any intervention is its acceptance and uptake by caregivers whose perception about the risk for malaria-helminth co-infection has been little documented. Therefore, we conducted a qualitative study to understand the caregivers’ perspectives about the risk as well as the behavioural and social risk factors promoting malaria-helminth co-infection among pre-school and school-age children living in endemic rural and urban communities in Senegal. In June and December 2021, we conducted individual and group interviews, and participant observations, among 100 primary caregivers of children recruited from Saraya villages in southeast Senegal and among leaders and teachers of Koranic schools in Diourbel, western Senegal. Our findings showed that a majority of the study participants in the two settings demonstrated a high level of perception of risk for malaria and acceptable awareness about handwashing practices, but had misconceptions that malaria-helminth co-infection was due to a combination of excessive consumption of sugary food and mosquito bites. Our observations revealed many factors in the house structures, toilet practices and handwashing with ashes and sands, which the caregivers did not consider as risks for malaria-helminth co-infections. These findings underscore the need to promote caregivers’ awareness about the existence and risk of malaria-helminth co-infection in children. This approach would assist in addressing the caregivers’ misconceptions about the occurrence of the co-infection and could enhance their uptake of the strategic interventions targeted at achieving control and subsequent elimination of malaria and helminth co-infection.
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spelling pubmed-100218622023-03-17 Caregivers’ perception of risk for malaria, helminth infection and malaria-helminth co-infection among children living in urban and rural settings of Senegal: A qualitative study Afolabi, Muhammed O. Sougou, Ndèye Mareme Diaw, Aminata Sow, Doudou Manga, Isaac A. Mbaye, Ibrahima Greenwood, Brian Ndiaye, Jean Louis A. PLOS Glob Public Health Research Article The parasites causing malaria, soil-transmitted helminthiasis and schistosomiasis frequently co-exist in children living in low-and middle-income countries, where existing vertical control programmes for the control of these diseases are not operating at optimal levels. This gap necessitates the development and implementation of strategic interventions to achieve effective control and eventual elimination of these co-infections. Central to the successful implementation of any intervention is its acceptance and uptake by caregivers whose perception about the risk for malaria-helminth co-infection has been little documented. Therefore, we conducted a qualitative study to understand the caregivers’ perspectives about the risk as well as the behavioural and social risk factors promoting malaria-helminth co-infection among pre-school and school-age children living in endemic rural and urban communities in Senegal. In June and December 2021, we conducted individual and group interviews, and participant observations, among 100 primary caregivers of children recruited from Saraya villages in southeast Senegal and among leaders and teachers of Koranic schools in Diourbel, western Senegal. Our findings showed that a majority of the study participants in the two settings demonstrated a high level of perception of risk for malaria and acceptable awareness about handwashing practices, but had misconceptions that malaria-helminth co-infection was due to a combination of excessive consumption of sugary food and mosquito bites. Our observations revealed many factors in the house structures, toilet practices and handwashing with ashes and sands, which the caregivers did not consider as risks for malaria-helminth co-infections. These findings underscore the need to promote caregivers’ awareness about the existence and risk of malaria-helminth co-infection in children. This approach would assist in addressing the caregivers’ misconceptions about the occurrence of the co-infection and could enhance their uptake of the strategic interventions targeted at achieving control and subsequent elimination of malaria and helminth co-infection. Public Library of Science 2022-08-12 /pmc/articles/PMC10021862/ /pubmed/36962392 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000525 Text en © 2022 Afolabi et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Afolabi, Muhammed O.
Sougou, Ndèye Mareme
Diaw, Aminata
Sow, Doudou
Manga, Isaac A.
Mbaye, Ibrahima
Greenwood, Brian
Ndiaye, Jean Louis A.
Caregivers’ perception of risk for malaria, helminth infection and malaria-helminth co-infection among children living in urban and rural settings of Senegal: A qualitative study
title Caregivers’ perception of risk for malaria, helminth infection and malaria-helminth co-infection among children living in urban and rural settings of Senegal: A qualitative study
title_full Caregivers’ perception of risk for malaria, helminth infection and malaria-helminth co-infection among children living in urban and rural settings of Senegal: A qualitative study
title_fullStr Caregivers’ perception of risk for malaria, helminth infection and malaria-helminth co-infection among children living in urban and rural settings of Senegal: A qualitative study
title_full_unstemmed Caregivers’ perception of risk for malaria, helminth infection and malaria-helminth co-infection among children living in urban and rural settings of Senegal: A qualitative study
title_short Caregivers’ perception of risk for malaria, helminth infection and malaria-helminth co-infection among children living in urban and rural settings of Senegal: A qualitative study
title_sort caregivers’ perception of risk for malaria, helminth infection and malaria-helminth co-infection among children living in urban and rural settings of senegal: a qualitative study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10021862/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36962392
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000525
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